At the height of the holiday mailing season, thieves in the Valley have special keys that can unlock U.S. Postal Service collection boxes, outdoor parcel lockers, cluster box units, and apartment panels.

This week two letter carriers in Youngstown and Boardman told police they were robbed by criminals who were specifically looking for what the Postal Service calls “Arrow Lock Keys”.

On Monday afternoon, a letter carrier says he was robbed of his arrow key by two masked men on Youngstown’s Kensington Avenue.

In addition, A letter carrier in reported being tackled on Wednesday by three men while delivering mail on Boardman’s Melbourne Avenue.  Again, the attackers took the carrier’s arrow key.

The master keys are assigned to letter carriers for use on more than 300,000 daily delivery and collection routes around the nation.

According to a report by the Office of Inspector General, carriers and collectors must always keep arrow lock keys secured and attached to their belts or clothing by a chain while on duty and return them at the end of each day.

In November, authorities in Denver, Colorado arrested the alleged getaway driver and offered a $150,000 reward for information on two other suspected gang members whom they believe robbed a mail carrier of her arrow key as she was eating lunch.

According to a court affidavit filed in the case, although keys are coded for specific geographical areas, they can open mail receptacles and other postal property for large population areas and the keys do repeat throughout the country.

For example, a key for Denver may not work in an immediate suburb but would work in a similarly keyed community elsewhere in the country.

Postal inspectors say these keys are extremely valuable. In the Denver Metro area, a suspect told postal officials that they were offered $35,000 for their stolen Arrow Key.

Suspects have also begun counterfeiting their own Arrow Keys, according to the affidavit, which goes on to say “The use, theft, armed robbery, and counterfeit reproduction of Arrow Keys has dramatically increased due to the rise in Mail Theft nationwide.

21 News reached out to the Postal Service following the first robbery in Youngstown, seeking advice on what postal customers can do to protect their gifts and letters being mailed during this holiday season.

Postal inspector Ian Ortega responded with the following email which stated in part:

The US Postal Inspection Service is aware of the Youngstown incident and are actively investigating the matter with the assistance of Youngstown PD.  As we are still investigating the matter, the Inspection Service cannot provide any other specifics at this time; other than the fact that the postal employee was unharmed.

In October the U.S. Postal Service and U.S. Postal Inspection Service (Inspection Service) announced new efforts in a campaign to crack down on postal crimes, including attacks against postal employees, including increased monetary rewards for information leading to the arrest or conviction of criminals targeting the postal system. 

The current reward for information leading to the conviction of someone who robs or assaults a postal employee is $150,000.

Other initiatives include the installation of 10,000 high-security blue collection boxes nationwide, and ongoing efforts to replace antiquated Arrow Locks with 49,000 electronic locks.

In 2020, the United States Office of Inspector General issued a report finding that the Postal Service’s management controls over arrow lock keys were ineffective.

The report found that the number of arrow keys in circulation was unknown, and local postal units did not adequately report lost, stolen, or broken keys or maintain key inventories.

Further, the Inspector General said the Postal Service did not restrict the number of replacement arrow keys that could be ordered, concluding that Ineffective controls over arrow keys could increase the risk that keys will be lost or stolen and not detected.

The Postal Service responded to the findings by agreeing to revise its procedures to keep track and allocate Arrow Lock Keys.